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LSU claims a Game 3 pitchers' duel, 2-0, to take the series from Ole Miss

conner_hale.jpg

LSU second baseman Conner Hale rejoices as he arrives back in the dugout after slamming a solo home run in the 8th inning Saturday that helped the Tigers edge Ole Miss 2-0 in the series finale at Swayze Field.
(Joshua T. McCoy | OleMissSports.com)

OXFORD,
Miss. -- Redemption and new hope have been woven into
baseball as long as the sport has existed. Chances to bounce back from failure
and chances to step to the forefront unexpectedly generate such captivating
storylines.

LSU and Ole Miss squared off in Game 3
of what had been, as usual, an intense and back-and-forth series on Saturday,
and things were no different at Swayze Field.

Sparked by the final chapter of Conner
Hale's breakout week and a four-man 6-hit masterpiece on the mound, the No.
7/8-ranked Tigers nabbed a 2-0 victory to claim the series and jockey back in
front of the No. 10/12 Rebels in the SEC West standings.

Hale emerged from a SEC slump to spark
the victory with a single, his first home run and two runs scored, and LSU
(30-10-1, 10-7-1 SEC) got spectacular pitching from Alden Cartwright, Hunter
Devall, Parker Bugg and Kurt McCune to suffocate one of the league's best
offenses.

With the Tigers clinging to a 1-0 lead, Hale
uncorked a long leadoff home run in the 8th inning to give his
pitchers some welcome breathing room, and the Rebels weren't able to mount a
serious threat in the last two innings.

Bugg and McCune made sure, adding two
more scoreless frames to LSU's total. McCune notched his second save of the
weekend, although Ole Miss (30-11, 10-8 SEC) didn't go quietly. A one-out single
and a walk made for an intense ending before McCune got Holt Perdzock to tap
out to Hale at second base.

"This was a win for the
human spirit. Nobody would've predicted that we could go out there and pitch a
shutout at Ole Miss. It shows that anything is possible if you believe in
yourself."

Mingled in with the emergence of unexpected
heroes, Mark Laird got a chance to wash out the nasty taste of a costly missed
play in a 5-1 loss on Friday.

LSU right fielder Mark Laird crashes into the fence as he hauls in a long fly ball off the bat of Ole Miss' Austin Anderson on Saturday at Swayze Field.Joshua T. McCoy | OleMissSports.com

The Tigers' splendidly talented right
fielder dropped a foul popup to give Rebels' center fielder Auston Bousfield a
second chance on Friday, and he came through with a two-run single that turned
a 2-1 lead into 4-1 and changed the game's complexion.

When Austin Anderson ripped a 1-and-0
offering from Devall toward the right-field fence in the 8th inning on
Saturday, Laird raced back, leapt and hauled the ball in as he slammed into the
fence. He also snared a foul ball in the 9th inning very similar to
the one in Game 2, barreling over a ball girl in the process.

"I was kind of disappointed
in myself (Friday) for not making a play I make 99% of the time and I had to
flush it," said Laird, who also produced a double. "I told myself 'I've got to
do something to get my team a win.' I saw it off the bat, felt my feet on the
warning track, and I knew I had to jump and catch it. I saw I had it and I thought
'Now maybe they'll be a little quieter in right field.' "

The 'they' Laird
mentioned were the rowdy Ole Miss students who reside in the right-field
bleachers and hounded him all weekend long, especially after his drop on
Friday.

His momentum-sapping
catch not only quieted the students, but also prevented a big start to the
inning - Laird's catch was part of a day when Ole Miss leadoff hitters were 0-for-9
- and Devall got the second out when he burned off a nasty breaking ball for a
called third strike to Will Allen.

"Oh my God, what a
player, huh?" Devall said of Laird's catch. "I don't know how he did. I don't
know how he made the play and I'm not going to ask him."

Sikes Orvis jacked a double to
right-center field to give the Rebels only their second runner in scoring position,
prompting Mainieri to summon Bugg. Perdzock stepped in as a pinch-hitter, but
he didn't have an answer, flying out harmlessly to center field.

The Rebels' frustrating empty at-bat
came after Hale unloaded on a 2-and-2 curve ball that Ole Miss starter and Lake
Charles native Sam Smith hung in his wheelhouse.

Coming into the weekend, Hale was
2-for-21 in series against Mississippi State and Arkansas, and had only one RBI
in league games. He was 3-for-5 on Thursday and involved in all four LSU runs.

"Down two strikes, I was just trying to
get a hit," Hale said. He reported that he hit only two home runs in two
junior-college seasons at State College Of Florida. "Fortunately he hung a
curve ball and I was able to get a good swing off."

And the power surge -
where did that come from?

"Uh, I have no idea,"
he said with a smile. "I just got into one I guess."

LSU gave Cartwright a 1-0 lead in the 3rd
inning and it might've been more if not for some perfect execution by Ole Miss
left fielder Braxton Lee.

After the Tigers spent the first two
innings getting good swings against Smith, Hale finally kick-started an
uprising when he rammed a leadoff single to left field on a 1-and-2 count and
then sprinted to second base on a passed ball. Christian Ibarra put down a
picture-perfect bunt to advance the Tigers' second baseman to third base with
one out.

Ole Miss catcher tags LSU's Andrew Stevenson out when he tried to score from third base on a fly ball in the 3rd inning Saturday.Joshua T. McCoy | OleMissSports.com

Andrew Stevenson pounced on the first
offering he saw and hit a laser into center field for an RBI single. He motored
around to third base when Laird shanked a liner toward the left-field line for
a double, putting two of the fastest Tigers on second and third with only one
out.

Hitting in the three-hole in place of
Alex Bregman, freshman Jake Fraley pumped a fly ball to medium-depth left
field, where Lee circled under the ball, hauled it in and fired an absolute frozen
rope to Allen, who had the ball waiting at the plate to tag out the greasy-fast
Stevenson for an inning-ending double play.

Cartwright blazed through the first
three innings without allowing a hit and got the first out in the 4th
inning as well. Austin Bousfield and Anderson finally ended the drought when
they punched back-to-back wicked singles.

LSU shortstop clears second base and throws to first base to complete a key double play in the 4th inning Saturday as the Tigers edged Ole Miss 2-0.Bruce Newman | Associated Press

After a lengthy visit from pitching coach
Alan Dunn, Cartwright went back to work and welcomed the pitcher's best friend
to the party, getting Allen to chop to Alex Bregman, who corralled the ball and
turned a 6-3 double play.

"I wasn't locating well
in the 4th inning," Cartwright said. "(Allen) was trying to call
timeout, but I threw the pitch anyway, and threw a belt-high changeup that he
rolled over on perfectly. I should've thrown it lower, but, hey it worked."

As strong as the Tigers' pitchers were, Smith,
a Lake Charles native, was equally as fabulous. Following Laird's double, he
retired 13 of the next 14 batters until Hale's bomb.

The 4th and 9th
innings were the only time Ole Miss got more than one runner on base, and the
Rebels had only three at-bats with a runner in scoring position. Lee and
Bousfield, pests in the first two games, were a combined 1-for-8.

We don't miss a beat. ur
pitch staff is dominating right now Every one of s it Doesn't matter who's go
out there we're throwing up 0s. we all threw with conviction today and we all
showed some heart out there do what we had to do

Devall got the win, his first of the
season. But there was no doubt that all four Tigers' pitchers shared in the
school-record 12th shutout of the season. It was the first time this
season the Rebels have been blanked.

"It was one of those
bad offensive days that happen in baseball, and we just couldn't mount anything,"
Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. "We just couldn't threaten at all."

Mainly because the LSU
pitchers wouldn't allow that.

After allowing 10 hits
Friday and 9 on Thursday, Cartwright made sure he stifled the Rebels early, and
his bullpen mates followed his lead.

"We don't miss a beat,"
Cartwright said. "Our pitching staff is dominating right now - every one of us it.
It doesn't matter who's going out there. We're throwing up 0s. We all threw
with conviction (Saturday) and we all showed some heart out there to do what we
had to do.

Added Bugg, "That was a
great staff win Alden came out and set the tone for us and Devall came in and
kept it going. ... If the staff can do what they did (Saturday), then we're going
to have confidence in everybody."

The Tigers return home to entertain
Tulane at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Green Wave (15-22) lost both games at Charlotte this weekend (the third was weathered out) and has dropped 11 of its last 13
games since stunning LSU 3-2 in 11 innings on March 25.